For the first time Monday night, after tranquilizing the carnivorous cornerbacks hungry for pigskin, and lion-like linemen hungry for Peyton’s skin, did the Denver quarterback finally look uncomfortable.

This occurred, funny enough, when a nice fellow at the postgame news conference asked Peyton Manning about looking comfortable.

“You’ve made it look easy these first three games, but I’m sure it’s not …”

Manning purposefully shook his head side to side, uneasily touched his chin with his left hand, then shook his noggin again and said, “It’s not, no. I can’t tell you what it looks like. We do put a lot of work into the preparation. Our preparation has been excellent these first three weeks. We really study the opponent …. to be sure we’re all on the same page.”

In other words, to translate Manning: “I swear it’s actually harder than it looks!”

It’s getting stupid. He’s not a quarterback; he’s a surgeon. He’s dissecting these defenses with unfathomable ease (at least to our eyes). Twelve touchdowns and no interceptions. Manning’s 86.5 percent completion rate Monday (32-of-37) was a career high with a minimum of 20 passes. Career high. His career began in Todd Helton’s second year with the Rockies. And consider that three of those passes for sure were drops.

At times against the Oakland Raiders, it wasn’t, “Will the Broncos score?” It was, “Which Bronco will score?”

“I still think we can correct some things,” Manning said. “Our defense did a good job holding their offense. When we have those chances down in the red zone, third-and-1, and had to settle for (a field goal). You’re not looking to play the perfect game. You’re looking to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves. I thought we left a couple of maybe touchdowns out there tonight.”

Manning is not going to publicly acknowledge awesomeness. After another big win, he actually pointed out some mistakes, which appeared genuine and even adorable but, come on, it’s like a guy complaining he walked too many batters in his no-hitter. And Manning didn’t want to bite on questions about records and accomplishments because, really, what has he accomplished — he won three games well. This season is a mosaic.

We can get giddy; we’re allowed to. My fellow columnist declared that this is the greatest offense in NFL history. And two reporters and I debated this one — albeit a small sample size — Manning might be the most dominant 37-year-old ever, more than Brett Favre, while disregarding Barry Bonds due to the fact that he was Frankenstein. (Though how about Warren Spahn? He led the league in WHIP, wins, complete games and innings at age 37.)

So, yeah, it’s all very exciting. But guys, they were supposed to beat the Raiders. The story would have been if they had lost to the Raiders. But because Manning beat them with such historic brilliance, we’re suddenly wondering if this team is preordained — and wondering just how easy it is for them to breed brilliance.

Visit denverpost.com each weekday near quittin’ time for a heavy pour of sports commentary from Denver Post columnist Benjamin Hochman. Care for another round? Find previous Happy Hour installments at denverpost.com/hochman.

Benjamin Hochman was a sports columnist for The Denver Post until August 2015 before leaving for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, his hometown newspaper. Hochman previously worked for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes for its Hurricane Katrina coverage. Hochman wrote the Katrina-themed book “Fourth and New Orleans,” published in 2007.

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